Melanie Plane - Rockhampton Bulletin

NEAL Tweedy's Rockets locked in a home-court semi-final with a comprehensive win over Mackay Meteors at the weekend.

Hegvold stadium was well and truly rocking on Saturday night when Rockhampton's Minecorp Rockets beat the Meteors 81-70.

The pressure was on when the Rockets hit the court in front of a huge, vocal home crowd and Tweedy said the team played well on the big occasion.

"The pressure to win on our home court was on and the crowd was great," Tweedy said.

"It was probably one of the loudest crowds I've witnessed in a regular season game."

Starting off tight, the Rockets trailled by about nine points early in the game but Tweedy said after the home side nailed its first basket, the tension evaporated and the Rockets took off to lead by 11 points at half-time.

Mackay fought back in the third quarter to score 25 points to the Rockets' 20, narrowing the margin to just six points by the end of the quarter but couldn't contain the Rockets combination of key players in the last period.

Tweedy praised powerhouse Peni Nasalo, and said he played a superb game, scoring 15 points and making three assists for the side.

Mitch Philp continued to deliver on Saturday night, scoring 19 points with six assists.

Ryan McDade chimed in with 16 points while Bradley Williamson played an impressive allround game with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists and Tweedy said the spread of scoring across the side shows the level of team effort.

"When we've got that spread of scoring we're very hard to contain," he said.

"It's hard for them to focus on one player who's taking baskets when everyone is taking points."

Tweedy said the win didn't come without a hard-fought battle, though, with Mackay's imposing line-up hindering the Rockets' scoring opportunities.

"They've got some pretty big players and that made it a pretty tough game," he said.

"We managed to take the rebounds pretty convincingly though."

Having dominated the 2012 QBL season, the Rockets finished the regular season on top of the ladder and Tweedy said it can be credited to the full team's commitment and performance throughout the year.

The Rockets are now fast-tracked to the semi-final rounds to be held at Rockhampton's Hegvold stadium next Friday (31st August) and depending on the outcome of remaining games, will play-off against either Northside or Gold Coast.

Mackay heads home this week to play-off in their quarter-final against Cairns on a home court.